TRENTON — The Assembly will meet in special session Thursday to decide whether to re-authorize its subpoena power so its investigation of the George Washington Bridge lane closing scandal can continue, Speaker-elect Vincent Prieto said this morning.

Prieto (D-Hudson), who will be sworn in as Speaker on Tuesday, said the special session has been called to consider legislation reauthorizing subpoena power, which has already turned up explosive e-mails and text messages linking Gov. Chris Christie's administration to the September lane closures.

“The documents released this week related to the George Washington Bridge situation clearly show the need for a continued thorough investigation by the New Jersey General Assembly,” Prieto said in a statement this morning.

“Many questions remain unanswered about this threat to public safety and abuse of power,” he said.

The Assembly Transportation, Public Works and Independent Authorities Committee, which has been investigating the scandal, was granted subpoena power by an Assembly resolution last year. That power expires Tuesday, the last day of the current session. The Assembly must reauthorize the subpoena power for the investigation to continue.

The closing of several lanes at the foot of the busiest bridge in the world created massive traffic jams throughout Fort Lee and drew scrutiny over the ensuing months, prompting legislators to probe deeper into the involvement of the administration.

The scrutiny reached fever pitch this week, when explosive e-mails between some of Christie’s top staff and Port Authority appointees were publicly released, indicating the lane closings were political retaliation for Fort Lee's Democratic mayor not endorsing Christie's re-election bid.

Christie fired one deputy chief of staff and cut ties with his former campaign manager on Thursday. Earlier, a Christie appointee to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey resigned in wake of the scandal. The governor said this week he had no prior knowledge of the closures – and denied that there was any political motivation on his part.

The latest documents, released Friday, show infighting between state agencies over the closing of the lanes – and also a willingness to avoid the press among some of the officials involved.